a gambe all'aria
Italian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Literally, “with legs in the air”.
Prepositional phrase
[edit]- belly-up, flat on one's back
- 1881–1883, Carlo Collodi, chapter 31, in Le avventure di Pinocchio:
- […] la bestiuola, voltandosi a secco, gli dètte una gran musata nello stomaco e lo gettò a gambe all’aria.
- The beast, suddenly turning around, hit him with its muzzle in his stomach throwing him off belly up.
- 2020, Barack Obama, chapter 9, in Chicca Galli, Paolo Lucca, Giuseppe Maugeri, transl., Una terra promessa [A Promised Land], Garzanti Libri:
- A luglio, i notiziari di tutto il Paese diffusero le immagini di clienti disperati in fila per ritirare i soldi da IndyMac, una banca californiana finita velocemente a gambe all'aria.
- In July, news stations across the country broadcast images of desperate customers lined up to pull their money out of IndyMac, a California bank that promptly went belly-up.
- (literally, “In July, news stations across the country spread images of customers desperately in line to withdraw money from IndyMac, a California bank that quickly ended up flat on its back.”)